Ron MacLean joins ranks of Facebook-based GG nominees

Ron MacLean joins ranks of Facebook-based GG nominees

GG Night in Canada (Image: CBC)

This summer, Canadians won’t be able to swing a cat without hitting a potential nominee for governor general. With the departure of Michaëlle Jean coming at the end of September, attention has already been paid to Don Cherry, Rick Hansen and, of course, William Shatner (who said he’d be happy to do it if it were a part-time gig). The latest prominent name to be floated is Ron MacLean, for his rescue of a man from the Delaware River. But does he stand a chance?

So far, his nomination has been proposed only in that most august of formal bodies—a Facebook group—but there’s no doubt he would make an interesting candidate. MacLean still faces a few hurdles. He wasn’t born in Canada (his dad was stationed on an RCAF base in West Germany back when that was a real place), which would make him the third GG in a row to have grown up on foreign soil. Also, he’s been trained as a hockey referee, so the next time Canada faces a political meltdown, he can make a good call. (This isn’t baseball.)

But the really exciting part of this idea is Cherry and MacLean taking their Hockey Night in Canada shtick to Ottawa as our country’s vice-regents. They probably can’t both be governor general at the same time, but this is Canada—they could totally get married, and then whoever draws the appropriate straw would be styled the “viceregal consort.” This idea is still more credible than “His Excellency William Shatner.”

• Ron Maclean for Governor General [Facebook]